ArticleSocial psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology2026
The moderating effects of social norms and attitudes on the relationship between intimate partner violence and depressive symptoms among women in two provinces of Nepal.
Article in Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeIntimate partner violence (IPV) is often associated with increased depressive symptoms. However, considerable variability exists in this relationship, from null findings to large effect estimates, likely due, in part, to differences in attitudes (thoughts and beliefs), descriptive norms (perceptions of what behaviors occur in a community), and injunctive norms (perceptions of what behaviors are acceptable in a community). In this study, we test the effect of individual- and community-level attitudes and norms on the IPV-depressive symptoms relationship.
methodsThe sample included 976 married women in 30 communities in Nepal. We measured depressive symptoms with the Patient Health Questionnaire and IPV with items adapted from the Revised Conflict Tactics Scale. We used generalized linear models to test seven moderators: individual-level attitudes (gender-inequitability and acceptability of husband abuse), an individual-level descriptive norms scale, and community-level proxies of injunctive norms (aggregated attitudes) and descriptive norms (aggregated IPV prevalence and descriptive norms scale).
resultsDescriptive norms significantly moderated the IPV-depressive symptoms relationship at both the individual and community level. The differences in depressive symptoms between women who did and did not experience IPV were stronger where violence was perceived to be less widespread. Individual-level attitudes and community-level injunctive norms proxies were not found to be significant moderators.
conclusionWhere IPV is less prevalent (or perceived as such), experiencing IPV may increase depressive symptoms, as the experience deviates from the prevailing norm. Research should continue to refine norms measurement and explore individual and contextual factors that impact the likelihood of negative mental health outcomes to inform prevention and response interventions.
Indexed as
Identifiers
42919920What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.